First Look at Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Ringer

As a die-hard Buffy fan, I am beyond excited for Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s return to television. I strongly support more media featuring strong female characters, like Maggie Q‘s Nikita or Katniss from The Hunger Games. Anything to counteract the damage Twilight has had on the young girls of our nation.

SMG‘s new series, Ringer, is an action-packed mystery thriller, a wonderful complement to the vastly improved Nikita.

Gellar will play dual roles as twin sisters Bridget and Siobhan. After witnessing a crime, Bridget runs from her dysfunctional life and, through a series of events, decides to take over her missing sister’s life.

Naturally, unbenownst to Bridget, Siobhan is apparently alive and deeply inolved in a complex web of lies and violence. Intriguing!

Catch the video after the jump.

Weeds “A Hole in Her Niqab” S7 E4 Review + Recap

First of all, the meaning of the episode’s title doesn’t become clear until far into the ep, when we get a gratuitously offensive scene that doesn’t spin the title in any humorously unexpected manner. Hugely unnecessary. I hate when TV courts controversy for the sake of controversy.

Also unecessary: Andy’s romance. Andy’s antics are often comic relief, but, in the past, his storylines have at least somewhat intersected with the main narrative (Nancy). Instead, in this episode, Andy (Justin Kirk) continues his fling with Maxeen (Lindsay Sloane), the artist from last ep., only to find himself in a polyamorous pickle. No connection whatsoever to the rest of the characters.

Weeds “Game-Played” S7 E3 Review + Recap

Weeds has always been great at the cliffhanger ending. The wonderfully shocking closing scene of this season’s opener, for example. Last episode‘s closing scene was less shocking, but still provided a compelling problem for Nancy to overcome.

“Game-Played” opens with the resolution for last episode’s cliffhanger. Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) did test positive for marijuana, after she–uncharacteristically– smoked with her former cellmate’s brother. Since sending Nancy back to jail would make Weeds fairly boring, sitcom law allows Nancy a second chance.

Oh also, Andy (Justin Kirk) is the saddest character ever. More on that later.

Weeds “From Trauma Cometh Something” S7 E2 Review + Recap

While the season premiere of Weeds was somewhat disjointed, this episode at least followed a coherent narrative. Last episode felt like backstory, while this episode feels like a series of set-ups for next episode.

We see the family return to New York. This involves Silas (Hunter Parrish) setting up a meeting with a modeling agent, who is cliché annoying, and confusingly interested in Silas (as a client?). Doug (Kevin Nealon) meets up with an old friend, who promises to introduce him back into corporate circles. Shane (Alexander Gould) and Andy (Justin Kirk) wait for Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) at the halfway house, while discussing how much she could have changed, with the help of an informational video.

Nancy, herself, has the biggest role this episode, and it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.

Weeds “Bags” S7 E1 Review + Recap

Whenever someone mentions the decline of Weeds, I have only one image in my head, and that image is Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) riding a scooter away from the fire. This season starts with another soon-to-be iconic image.

The show’s original—and originally clever—premise was a recently widowed suburban mother who secretly turns to selling marijuana as a way to maintain the upper crust lifestyle she and her children are used to. Now in its seventh season, Weeds has become a very different show, as this season premiere shows.

Ugly Americans “Wet Hot Demonic Summer” S2 E1 Review + Recap

I have to admit, I was a little worried for this season of Ugly Americans. The preview Comedy Central broadcasted was slow to the point of boredom, and the jokes just didn’t flow. Thankfully, the episode itself relieved all of my worries.

The first season of Ugly Americans was characterized by an endlessly inventive attention to detail. Notice the distinct and separately designed creatures that populace this alt-universe New York City. The characters are relateable, with more faults than strengths. The protagonist, Mark Lilly (Matt Oberg), is fairly bland, but every good comedy needs a straight man.

The premiere episode kicked things off with a bang. With a strong start like this, I’m excited to see where the show will go this season (and hopefully for a few more).

South Park “City Sushi” S15 E6 Review + Recap

Most South Park reviewers will fall into two camps regarding this episode. Either you love Butters, and love episodes focusing on Butters, or you don’t. This episode is a Butters episode.

That’s not to say Butters’s journey through an incorrect multiple personality diagnosis by a mentally deranged psychiatrist is the only storyline in “City Sushi.” As the title suggests, the episode also follows the travails of local City Wok owner and South Park’s only Asian, Lu Kim. A new Japanese restaurant, the aforementioned City Sushi, opens next door to Kim’s City Wok, causing Kim to scheme ways to destroy his new competition.

South Park “Crack Baby Athletic Association” S15 E5 Review + Recap

Thank you, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Thank you for fifteen years of laughs and hard-hitting social commentary, and thank you for this episode. “Crack Baby Athletic Association” is the funniest, sharpest, most tightly paced episode yet this season.

I’ve been fairly ambivalent about the first few episodes this season, but “Crack Baby Athletic Association” cleared any lingering doubts that Parker and Stone could keep up the ingenuity of South Park under the new demands as creators of a successful, Tony-nominated Broadway musical. 

Modern Family “The One That Got Away” S2 E24 Review + Recap

The season finale of Modern Family was disappointing, especially in comparison to last week’s episode.

Last week, I questioned the wisdom of placing “See You Next Fall” before the season finale. “See You Next Fall” was so primed for finale-hood, with its heartwearming, integrated storyline. The graduation theme felt like a perfect way to mark the passage of time and the start of a summer break for the characters and the show itself.

In contrast, “The One That Got Away” was funny, but a little flat and disjointed. 

The Big Bang Theory “The Roommate Transmogrification” S4 E24 Review + Recap

I’ve complained before about The Big Bang Theory’s predictability, but I have to admit the show threw me for a loop with the ending of this season finale.

While last week’s episode closed with Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) yelling at fiance Howard (Simon Helberg), “The Roommate Transmogrification” sees the couple together again. Bernadette tells the group that she successfully defended her dissertation and is soon to have her PhD. The gang teases Howard about being the only non-doctorate in the group, and Bernadette’s new high-salary job doesn’t do anything to help relieve Howard’s insecurities.

That’s more or less it for Howard and Bernadette. The season finale’s main focus is on the Will They Or Won’t They between Leonard and Penny, and the episode leaves things in an entertainingly unresolved manner.